“Invitation to join Berlin Sustainable Fashion Week”. I remember receiving an email with this title in December and jumping out of joy in my living room. Discovering a bunch of sustainable fashion brands alongside eco bloggers for 3 days in one of the most advanced city in terms of environment in the world? Heck yes!

It’s a no brainer that fast fashion is bad. For the planet of course but also for the workers involved in this industry who get paid low wages, work extra long hours, are threatened physically and mentally and in some cases are minors.

So what do you do ? On the pyramid of building yourself an eco friendly and ethical closet (which you can find here), you’ll notice that even before supporting brands with a purpose is the « buy vintage when possible » advice. That’s because the environmental benefits of buying pre-loved clothes are pretty significant (on top of saving money and looking unique of course) !

Usually, people who are starting their "conscious" journey towards a more mindful daily consumption think about reducing meat consumption, turning off the lights when they leave a room or taking a bus instead of their car to work. That's because these change of habits have been advertised by governments and NGOs as "easy" steps to save the planet, achievable by anyone, even the most reluctant individuals.

However, despite recent documentaries and campaigns, little is still known by the general public about the impact of the fashion industry on the environment AND on garment workers (hello cognitive dissonance?!). Indeed, in the past 20 years, it has become so normal to have the latest trends in shops changing every two weeks for the price of an average meal at a restaurant that consumers have completely lost sight of what's needed to produce clothing, especially the amount of clothing necessary to feed the fast fashion system.

So how can we turn this around and make more mindful decisions when it comes to buying clothes?